Before hospitals bring out the noisemakers and sing choruses of "Auld Lang Syne" to mark the end of 2011, some may want to consider New Year's resolutions for 2012. Not gym club memberships and personal promises to watch less "Dancing with the Stars," of course. As 2012 comes afoot, hospitals face the dawn of a new year of healthcare reform, and change is inevitable. Here, five hospital leaders representing different parts of the C-suite share some of their and their organization's New Year's resolutions for 2012 — ranging from emphasis on quality measures to boosting green and sustainable energy initiatives — and how the healthcare industry can look to improve its infrastructure next year.
John Bishop, CFO of Long Beach (Calif.) Memorial Hospital, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach and Community Hospital Long Beach. My New Year's resolutions include both a new and an old resolution. In healthcare, technology and financial incentives change every day, but the basic tenet of providing quality care never changes.
The "old" resolution is to continue to strive to provide the best quality patient care possible while optimizing the efficiency with which that care is provided. Decreasing reimbursement is challenging hospital bottom lines, but efficiency improvements can never take precedence over providing high-quality patient care. Patient safety is always our number one priority.
The "new" resolution is to position our hospitals to be leaders and innovators in providing healthcare services under the new world order of healthcare reform. As our incentives become more aligned with our physicians and the emphasis on preventive/wellness care increases, we want to be positioned to best take care of the healthcare needs of the communities that we serve. That means providing the right care in the right place at the right time.
Mike Garfield, CEO of Tennova Healthcare in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennova Healthcare will strive to be number one in our market for quality indicators. We will be the healthcare employer of choice for associates, the place where physicians want to practice medicine with new and innovative technologies and the place where East Tennesseans entrust the health of themselves and their loved ones. If we follow these three pillars, 2012 will be a successful year.
Mary Jo Goodman, COO of Park Plaza Hospital in Houston. 2012 will bring a continued focus on Park Plaza Hospital through a personalized and meaningful patient and family experience. Service is not just a set of transactional behaviors. It fosters an environment of dignity and hope.
Focus on providing consistency and making a difference continues with our concentration on quality measures, infection prevention and high levels of patient and physician satisfaction.
Leadership rounds focus on the patient, physician and the employee. The more we as leaders listen openly, the more opportunities we have to serve. We are constantly learning how to listen. Listening is a sign of respect and fosters relationship-provider based care.
[We will make a] concentrated effort to provide a quiet and healing environment with art and color.
"Going Green" initiatives campus-wide include:
• Reuse your cups, mugs and bottles, and reduce the use of Styrofoam cups.
• Use filtered water, and reduce plastic bottles.
• Reduce paper use, and hold paperless meetings.
• Think twice before printing emails.
• Encourage recycling. To make recycling more convenient at Park Plaza Hospital, we will find two types of recycling bins in the copy rooms.
• Save energy: Set computers and monitors to switch to standby mode when idle for more than a few minutes.
[We will have] employee wellness programs, from wellness challenges to personal health coaches to help with lifestyle improvements.
Susan Penque, RN, PhD, Chief Nursing Officer of South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y. For me, New Year's resolutions are goals and commitments you are going to make. I will keep the following list at my desk for reflection and action:
• Remember, healthcare exists to serve the needs of patients. Keep the patient and community first in all the decisions I make.
• Remind myself, it is all about relationships. Continue to be present for my peers, nursing leaders and staff.
• Be mindful, I am in healthcare to make it better for patients. Help one family or patient every day I am at work.
• Never forget how valuable our nurses are to patient care. Thank a minimum of one staff nurse a month for their spectacular job with a written thank you note to their home.
• Become more active in professional organizations to advance the practice of nursing and create solutions for healthcare reform.
• Attain the goals nurses have set for the organization and community.
• Reinforce the good, reward the great and minimize the negative.
• Lead through example and direction, and follow with grace and purpose.
• Give back to the nursing profession the vast knowledge and experience I have acquired.
• Make [the hospital] a better place "to be" and "to know."
Barry Rabner, President and CEO of Princeton (N.J.) HealthCare System. In May 2012, we will move into a $625-million replacement hospital that we began planning in 2003. I am resolved to do everything necessary to ensure that the facility is as good as our excellent staff and exceeds the expectations of our patients and the remarkably supportive community we serve.
One of my many resolutions is to achieve energy operating cost savings of 25 percent of what the hospital would have spent if it were constructed with conventional energy infrastructure.
The new hospital is expected to be one of the most sustainable in New Jersey and the country. A major component of the green design is the power generation elements that include on-site co-generation plant supplying 100 percent of the hospital's heating and cooling needs, a chilled water thermal energy storage system and a photovoltaic installation.
Other sustainable features include solar shades, sustainable construction materials and finishes, water-saving fixtures, indigenous landscaping, environmental control systems, east-west building orientation and 100-percent fresh air in patient rooms.
John Bishop, CFO of Long Beach (Calif.) Memorial Hospital, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach and Community Hospital Long Beach. My New Year's resolutions include both a new and an old resolution. In healthcare, technology and financial incentives change every day, but the basic tenet of providing quality care never changes.
The "old" resolution is to continue to strive to provide the best quality patient care possible while optimizing the efficiency with which that care is provided. Decreasing reimbursement is challenging hospital bottom lines, but efficiency improvements can never take precedence over providing high-quality patient care. Patient safety is always our number one priority.
The "new" resolution is to position our hospitals to be leaders and innovators in providing healthcare services under the new world order of healthcare reform. As our incentives become more aligned with our physicians and the emphasis on preventive/wellness care increases, we want to be positioned to best take care of the healthcare needs of the communities that we serve. That means providing the right care in the right place at the right time.
Mike Garfield, CEO of Tennova Healthcare in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennova Healthcare will strive to be number one in our market for quality indicators. We will be the healthcare employer of choice for associates, the place where physicians want to practice medicine with new and innovative technologies and the place where East Tennesseans entrust the health of themselves and their loved ones. If we follow these three pillars, 2012 will be a successful year.
Mary Jo Goodman, COO of Park Plaza Hospital in Houston. 2012 will bring a continued focus on Park Plaza Hospital through a personalized and meaningful patient and family experience. Service is not just a set of transactional behaviors. It fosters an environment of dignity and hope.
Focus on providing consistency and making a difference continues with our concentration on quality measures, infection prevention and high levels of patient and physician satisfaction.
Leadership rounds focus on the patient, physician and the employee. The more we as leaders listen openly, the more opportunities we have to serve. We are constantly learning how to listen. Listening is a sign of respect and fosters relationship-provider based care.
[We will make a] concentrated effort to provide a quiet and healing environment with art and color.
"Going Green" initiatives campus-wide include:
• Reuse your cups, mugs and bottles, and reduce the use of Styrofoam cups.
• Use filtered water, and reduce plastic bottles.
• Reduce paper use, and hold paperless meetings.
• Think twice before printing emails.
• Encourage recycling. To make recycling more convenient at Park Plaza Hospital, we will find two types of recycling bins in the copy rooms.
• Save energy: Set computers and monitors to switch to standby mode when idle for more than a few minutes.
[We will have] employee wellness programs, from wellness challenges to personal health coaches to help with lifestyle improvements.
Susan Penque, RN, PhD, Chief Nursing Officer of South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y. For me, New Year's resolutions are goals and commitments you are going to make. I will keep the following list at my desk for reflection and action:
• Remember, healthcare exists to serve the needs of patients. Keep the patient and community first in all the decisions I make.
• Remind myself, it is all about relationships. Continue to be present for my peers, nursing leaders and staff.
• Be mindful, I am in healthcare to make it better for patients. Help one family or patient every day I am at work.
• Never forget how valuable our nurses are to patient care. Thank a minimum of one staff nurse a month for their spectacular job with a written thank you note to their home.
• Become more active in professional organizations to advance the practice of nursing and create solutions for healthcare reform.
• Attain the goals nurses have set for the organization and community.
• Reinforce the good, reward the great and minimize the negative.
• Lead through example and direction, and follow with grace and purpose.
• Give back to the nursing profession the vast knowledge and experience I have acquired.
• Make [the hospital] a better place "to be" and "to know."
Barry Rabner, President and CEO of Princeton (N.J.) HealthCare System. In May 2012, we will move into a $625-million replacement hospital that we began planning in 2003. I am resolved to do everything necessary to ensure that the facility is as good as our excellent staff and exceeds the expectations of our patients and the remarkably supportive community we serve.
One of my many resolutions is to achieve energy operating cost savings of 25 percent of what the hospital would have spent if it were constructed with conventional energy infrastructure.
The new hospital is expected to be one of the most sustainable in New Jersey and the country. A major component of the green design is the power generation elements that include on-site co-generation plant supplying 100 percent of the hospital's heating and cooling needs, a chilled water thermal energy storage system and a photovoltaic installation.
Other sustainable features include solar shades, sustainable construction materials and finishes, water-saving fixtures, indigenous landscaping, environmental control systems, east-west building orientation and 100-percent fresh air in patient rooms.
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